LIve Aid at 40: Personal Reflections from the Day Pop Music Reached Its Pinnacle: Part 1

As we reach the 40th anniversary of Live Aid, many articles are being written and CNN is planning a multi-episode documentary about what was inarguably the greatest day in the history of pop music. Ahead of that documentary, and before I or anyone else is prejudiced by what we learn and how it's presented, here's my first-hand account of how the event went down and recollections (and recordedings) of someone who was completely immersed in the event from the moment it was announced:

This was going to be BIG

I'll begin by recalling the scant (by today's standards) coverage of the show's announcement. Remember this was the mid 80's so there was no internet; there were only three TV networks; and even basic cable (which many households still did not have) only provided about 40 channels. Still, it soon became clear that Live Aid (with its overlapping concerts at Wembley Stadium in London and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia) was going to be something huge. Both Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas", the charity record for famine relief in Africa that Bob Geldof had organized in December '84, and the American recording industry's answer, USA for Africa's "We Are the World", were both massive hits that generating millions. Now Geldof was announcing he'd be continuing that momentum by joining forces with American organizers and artists for a one-time music event taking place on two continents. An event that might quite literally include every relevant music artist in the world of pop and rock.

Indeed, Live Aid's lineup read like a who's who of the Top 40. Case in point, the week that Live Aid was announced, George Michael, Billy Ocean, Bryan Adams, Howard Jones, Simple Minds, Madonna, Phil Collins, Sade and Duran Duran all had songs in the Top 20. All would go on to appear at Live Aid. And that was just the tip of the iceberg. Queen, Hall & Oates, The Pretenders, Adam Ant, Black Sabbath, Lionel Richie, The Cars, U2, Mick Jagger... The ever-growing lineup was so much of a wish list and so hard to keep track of, I felt the need to document it in one of my college notebooks and for this article, I went to the Pop Culture Fiend Archives and dug up this old momento. 

Note that the "L's" and "P's" specify which venue the artist apeared (London or Philadelphia) and the check mark indicates it was a performance I actually got to see. Looking back now I realize that I most likely copied this list of scheduled acts from one the early announcements in Rolling Stone magazine or an MTV news report. And it's clear it most have been an early announcement, as multiple acts lsted (e.g. Culture Club and Tears For Fears) dropped out and/or wound up not appearing.

MIAs

In addition to Tears for Fears, Huey Lewis and the News were one of the big names that wound up not appearing. Lewis apparently had questions about mismanagement of the "We Are the World" funds and whether the money raised was actually being used to feed the starving Africa. This created controversy with the organizers and Lewis and his band were soon struck from the Live Aid bill. Other notable artists who failed to appear included:

Prince - The purple one was scheduled to be a part of "We Are the World" but missed the recording session, with excuses ranging from his bodyguard getting into a scrape at the American Music Awards earlier that evening, to rumors he just flat out hated the song. Why Prince missed Live Aid is not clear but it's also not very surprising as he was always aloof and mercurial. 

Michael Jackson - One of the creative forces behind We Are the World, MJ would miss Live Aid with his publicist giving the excuse that Jackson was "immersed in heavy projects." (Tina Turner would go on to replace him in a planned duet of "State of Shock" with Jagger.)

Cyndi Lauper - Lauper almost took some bad advice and turned down her "We Are the World" invite. In the end, she was talked into by Lionel Richie. Apparently no such persuasion took place for Live Aid, and it's likely Lauper was asked to participate but passed.

Billy Joel - Geldof had a number of counter-intuitive and downright strange ideas for the Live Aid shows. He almost didn't ask Queen, foolishly figuring that their time had come and gone. As for Billy Joel, even with a storied career that at the time already included 11 studio albums, 10 Grammy noms and 5 wins, for Live Aid Geldof purportedly only wanted him to play piano. Joel and his management rightly felt this was a silly waste of his talents and no deal was ever made.

Eurythmics - The popular British duo was set to play but had to bow out of the show when Annie Lennox developed a throat infection.

Yes and Foreigner -- Both bands reportedly wanted in on Live Aid but by the time they asked to participate, the shows were booked solid and the organizers had to start turn them away. It's worth noting that as it grew in size and scope, Live Aid, despite being a charitable endeavor, lost its "come one, come all" vibe. After a slow start, momentum began to build and several artists who had been asked to play changed their answer from "maybe" to "yes". Additionally, more and more artists who hadn't been personally approached were now making calls asking to join. Some of this was fueled by genuine desire to do their part for such a good cause; some no doubt by record companies and artists' reps worried that their clients not being part of the show would diminish their perceived importance in the music world.

One who didn't have to plead for a spot was Bruce Springsteen. Geldof and company wanted him bad, but the latest leg of the Born in the USA tour had recently ended and the E Street Band was enjoying its first break in over 5 months. Springsteen felt it wasn't fair to reorganize everyone on such short notice so he politely declined.

In addition to Prince and Michael Jackson, it's also worth mentioning the multitude of other acclaimed black artists that for one reason or another were not at Live Aid. This list includes Earth Wind and Fire,  George Benson, Grandmaster Flash, James Brown, Chuck Berry, DeBarge, Rick James, Kool and the Gang and Donna Summer, as well as "We Are the World" veterans Ray Charles, The Pointer Sisters, Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross, Al Jarreau, Jeffrey Osborne, Sheila E., James Ingram and Stevie Wonder. Chaka Kahn was also notably absent and in the weeks leading up to the event, publicly questioned the lineup's lack of diversity. Geldof fired back, implying that among the black artists he had asked to play the show, there seemed to be a lack of enthusiam and a general "I already gave at the office" attitude. In the end, the show's organizers did feel the need to include more black artists and Run-DMC (who curiously had initially been turned down), Ashford & Simpson, Patti Labelle, and Teddy Pendergrass secured spots.

The Broadcast

In America, coverage of Live Aid was split between MTV and ABC. MTV would begin its broadcast at 7:00 AM (ET) with the Wembley performances; ABC coverage would kick in late in the day and continue through prime time. At least one major New York radio station would simulcast the entire event, which pleased me no end, as in the days leading up to Live Aid, my plans to attend the Philadelphia concert were threatened.

And no, attending Live Aid in person wasn't some pipe dream for me. Philadelphia was just a short two hour ride down the turnpike from my home in north Jersey. What's more, I had tons of family living in Philly and had visited and stayed in the city (sometimes for weeks at a stretch) more times than I could count. Point being, I was familiar enough with the city that it wasn't an intimidating idea to plan on waking up early and making my way to JFK. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to secure tickets, not because they were too expensive (the $35 - $50 cost for a lineup of this magnitude was super cheap even for 1985) but because the process and logistics of buying concert tickets in the mid-80's were perhaps even more frustrating than the fiasco it often is today. First, just knowing when and where tickets were going on sale was a challenge. With no internet/social media, you relied largely on local radio to clue you in, which meant you needed to constantly be tuned in to your favorite station. Then, if you did hear that a record store or other venue would be selling tickets, there was often the rather time consuming and chaotic process of lining up (sometimes days in advance) just to receive a bracelet that would only make you eligible to buy tickets once they went on sale. When that day came, you had to return to the venue, line up all over again and hope tickets didn't sell out before it was your turn. The whole thing was as frustrating and unpalatable as it sounds, and somewhere along the way I missed a step. Live Aid quickly sold out and I was left ticketless.

But not to worry; I had a backup plan. Drive to the Philly show, purchase tickets from a scalper and witness music history.

It didn't quite work out that way. As I anxiously counted down the days to the concert, I waffled and wondered, "What if I drive all the way to JFK and can't find a scalper?" I had never scalped before and didn't know any tips or tricks to purchase tickets this way. Plus, I figured everyone was viewing this show the same way I saw it -- as a once in a lifetime event. In that case, anyone with tickets to sell was going to have a quick and easy job. What if I got to the venue too late and even the scalpers were sold out? Plus the drive from New Jersey to Pennsylvania was going to take at least two and half hours. With the drive back, this meant missing six or seven hours of the concert if I failed to score tickets. The idea of that made me nervous. Add that to the fact that attending the Philadelphia show, as great as that would be, would be at the cost of missing the entirety of the London acts. I pondered my decision and debated making the trip all the way to the night before the show, when by chance, I happened to be out with friends til around 3:00 AM... That settled it. I decided to forego my plan to see Live Aid in person, made it home, set my alarm clock for seven o'clock and hit the sack.

The Live Aid Tapes

Waking up early the next morning for the start of the London show (after barely three hours of sleep) I switched on the small 13-inch black and white TV in my room. I knew from the announced schedule that the first several acts included no one I was particularly excited to see. Status Quo, Style Council, Ultravox, and Geldof's band Boomtown Rats. I dozed for the next couple of hours and finally fully woke up in preparation to see one of my favorite artists at the time, Sting. I tuned in the simulcast, loaded the first of the brand new Maxell cassette tapes I'd purchased especially for this purpose, and started recording. It would be the first of over four hours of live performances I would capture and keep to this day. For literally decades, stereo recordings like this made by me and others would be the only way to relive Live Aid and enjoy these performances again. It would take nearly 20 years (2005 to be exact) before a DVD set of the event would be released. Rather curiously to this day, it seems there's still no CD or other digital audio format release. In light of that, I often weigh my decision not to make more of an effort to attend the concert in person. Seeing the Philadelphia show would have meant sacrificing seeing the London show (until 2005) as well as never having an audio recording to play back. As memorable as actually being there may have been, it would have been a tremendous loss to go through the remainder of my youth (and into my 30's) before getting to enjoy any version of the Live Aid performances again.

London

And so the acts rolled through and scores of memorable moments began. 

Sting performed a subdued, acoustic set of Police hits and introduced saxophonist Branford Marsalis, part of his new heavily jazz-influenced band that played on Sting's just released The Dream of the Blue Turtles album.

Phil Collins joined Sting halfway through his set and was equally subdued in his renditions of "Against All Odds", "In the Air Tonight" and "Long Long Way to Go".

Sade stood out with a sultry performance highlighted by "Your Love is King". Though by all accounts she hit the stage before Sting and Phil Collins, MTV's coverage made it appear that her appearance was much later. This was perhaps explained by something I'd learn weeks later:  as part of its deal, ABC had purchased the right to block live coverage of several acts — including David Bowie, Elton John and others — until later in the day. This meant that in some instances, artists performances on television were not taking place in treal time.

As morning gave way to afternoon, the London show hit its stride with back-to-back performances by Paul Young (at the time riding high on the charts with "Every Time You Go Away"), Alison Moyet, U2, Dire Straits (their soon to be #1 hit "Money for Nothing" had been released just two weeks earlier) and (drumroll please...) Queen.

Queen

So how great was Queen?...  Why are they getting a section of this article all to themselves?... Well, as  Queen's participation may have difficult to secure, but once they hit the stage, it was apparent from the start that the band's perfomace was absolutely iconic. Forty years removed, everyone from music historians to casual music fans agree on this. 

The best way to describe Queen at Live Aid?... It was like Michael Jordan in his prime. Anyone (even someone who knew nothing about basketball) could watch Jordan for a few minutes on the court and be able to point at him and say with confidence, "Yeah, that guy's the best one out there." That was Queen performing at Wembley that day. Even in a setting where they were measured against the best the music world had to offer, their performance stood above all others. Their set included some of their more recent cuts ("Radio Ga Ga" and "Hammer To Fall") along with signature songs "Bohemian Rhapsody", "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions". Queen is absolutely revered in England (maybe even moreso than the Beatles) and the fans at Wembley proved this yet again. Their energy during the band's performance reverberated over the airwaves, across the Atlantic, and through television screens like mine all over the U.S. If you haven't seen this performance, stop reading and watch it below.

Philadelphia and the Back and Forth Coverage

By the time Queen finished their epic performance, the Philadelphia show was already well underway. Joan Baez had kicked things off by rather ridiculously proclaiming to the crowd, "This is your Woodstock!" Sorry Joan, Woodstock was a seminal event in music and concert history, but Live Aid played out on a world (not just an American) stage, reached a far greater audience of 1.5 billion, had a much more important cause fueling it, and greater participation (i.e., more acts). You measure Woodstock by who was there; you think about Live Aid and ask, "Who wasn't there?" No offense Joan, but compared to Live Aid, Woodstock was just a backyard hootenanny.

As I went about swapping in fresh cassette tapes into my stereo, I knew I was recording something historic. Something to be kept and treasured for all time. One of the first Philadelphia acts I captured were the Beach Boys, who finished their fun set with "Surfin' USA". With the Philly show going and now two concerts to cover (plus the aforementioned ABC deal that blocked coverage of some acts until later in the day) MTV's hand was forced and the network began taking libertties with regard to performances on two continents overlapping and how to cover them. This resulted in times when only part of an artist's set was broadcast before the network would cut to someone (or something) else -- a fact I discovered with the 2005 DVD release. I along with millions of viewers around the world never knew that we missed songs by Sade, U2, and others. Even more disappointingly, some artists' performances (like Run-DMC, George Thorogood and REO Speedwagon) received little or no coverage at all. 

But back to the show... Shortly after the Beach Boys, I was able to catch the entireity of David Bowie (back at Wembley), The Pretenders (who, after Queen, might have given my favorite performance of the day) and Elton John. The latter was quite memorable for his reunion with Kiki Dee on "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" and his team up with George Michael on "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me". This was one of, if not the, first time the two had performed the popular power ballad in public. Michael's soaring vocals took the song to a different level, and six years later a studio version would be released that hit #1 on charts across the world.

And this brings us to back to U.S. for Madonna.

Oh yes, Madonna... I have some interesting backstory and distinct memories to share regarding her appearance at Live Aid... but I'll save that for Part II.

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Proof That Even Really Bad Comedies Usually Have At Least One Good Laugh: Ishtar Edition

Translation scene.

Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman may have been huge stars but they flounder trying to execute this type of comedy and also seem miscast in their roles. Writer Elaine May's script is often painfully old fashioned, like one of the old Bob Hope/Bing Crosby "On the  Road..." movies minus the subtle charm and wit. And as far as the supporting cast goes, Carol Kane's talents are wasted, Jack Weston feels like a fossil and Isabelle Adjani (Beatty's girlfriend at the time) has zero comedic talent.

Those are some of the nicest excuses I can make for Ishtar, a notorious flop of a movie whose production problems, cost overruns and bad press rival Heaven's Gate and Waterworld.

But to drill down a bit more, another reason Ishtar is so achingly unfunny is due to the performances of the film's co-leads. Beatty has done plenty of comedies but if you examine them (Heaven Can Wait, Bulworth, Shampoo) you'll find the scripts of these films require him to mostly just stumble through looking confused and play off the comedy happening around him. Hoffman also has an iffy track record in the comedy genre, his biggest hit being Tootsie where most of the laughs are found in the performances of Bill Murray and Teri Garr.

Ishtar's story plays like a lesser version of Spies Like Us. Hoffman and Beatty are Chuck and Lyle, a pair of aspiring singer/songwriters who get unwittingly mixed up in North African espionage and a CIA coup attempt. The plot is sometimes confusing; the locations and set pieces are uninspired, and our two bumbling protagonists aren't particularly amusing or sympathetic. (Beatty in particular appears stiff and thoroughly inept at comedy.) As a result, this film just trudges into its third act where we finally come to its one funny scene.

Chuck and Lyle, hiding out in the desert, stumble into a gunrunning deal, so Chuck poses as a local. The gunrunners are suspicious and threaten his life unless he's able to speak to a group of berbers and translate for them. So with a gun in his back, Chuck panics and begins spitting out a ridiculous mix of Spanish, Yiddish, nursery rhymes and just plain old gibberish. Aside from a scene featuring a blind camel repeatedly crashing through a marketplace this is pretty much Ishtar's high water mark. "A hatz foy-a!"... "Kareem Abdul! Kareem Abdul!" 

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John Hughes Already Explained Everything You Need to Know About Trump's Tariff Plan

In a frighteningly uncanny case of life imitating art, this well-known scene from John Hughes classic Ferris Bueller's Day Off features an economics teacher (real-life economics commentator Ben Stein) monotonously explaining the Hawley-Smoot Tariff of 1930 to his class.

Though it's now more famous for the lines "Bueller?... Bueller?..." and "Anyone?... Anyone?...", the dialogue in this scene does a pretty tidy job of explaining the tariff, which raised taxes on imports to the United States. The goal was to protect American farmers and businesses by making foreign goods more expensive. This would, in theory, encourage Americans to buy domestically made products and help pull the country out of the Great Depression.

Sound familiar?... This is one hundred percent what the Trump administration is attemptingright now (albeit in a much more clumsy, illogical and random way.) After details of Trump's tariff plan were announced this week, the global economy was disrupted, U.S. markets sank and 401(k) and other investors experienced substantial losses, including significant decreases across portfolios, retirement funds, etc.

As Stein explains in painfully boring fashion, the Hawley-Smoot Tariff did not work. Foreign nations didn’t like it because it made their goods more expensive for American consumers and those nations responded by raising their own tariffs on American goods. This created a trade war and the result was international trade decreased, hurting businesses in both the U.S. and abroad. Instead of helping the economy, the tariffs exacerbated the Great Depression by reducing trade and making it harder for businesses to sell products overseas.

All of this is either explained in (or serves as the backstory for) Stein's dialogue in this scene, so as a student of history, I'll pick up the story from here.

The decline in international trade plunged some foreign nations, including Germany, into economic hardship because they could no longer easily sell their products to the U.S. In Germany, this in turn led to massive unemployment, poverty, and widespread discontent with the German government. Many Germans felt betrayed by their government and turned to extremist political movements, including the Nazi Party, led by Adolf Hitler. Hitler promised to restore Germany’s economy, bring back national pride, and provide jobs for the unemployed and by 1932 (just two years after Hawley-Smoot) the Nazis were the largest political party in the country. In January of the following year, with no other leader able to command sufficient support to govern, President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler chancellor of Germany. 

Once in power, Hitler began dismantling his country's democratic institutions and weaponizing the government against all who opposed him. The Enabling Act of 1933, for example, gave him the power to make laws without the approval of the German parliament and he subsequently began manipulating the law to suit his agenda while ignoring any judicial orders that were in opposition to his policies... I'll ask again -- any of this sound familiar?

So when you follow the trail, it's not a stretch to say that tariffs had quite a lot to do with the rise of one of the most diabolical dictators in world history -- one who would go on to persecute foreign nationals and political opponents, threaten to (and successfully) seize strategic territories belonging to other nations, and ultimately ignite the greatest global conflict in world history.

Just something to think about.

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5 Films Hollywood Needs to Get to Work On

Back in 1990, my friend Steve and I were riding down the New Jersey Turnpike in a rented truck, delivering furniture to his parents' new home in Pennsylvania. The experience was memorable for two reasons. First, an 18-wheeler traveling right next to us blew a tire and scared the crap out of us. And second, we spent a good portion of the two hour drive reminiscing about one of our favorite childhood animated series, Speed Racer. Steve and I then proceeded to discuss how the show was a cult favorite, how the protagonist and premise (a young race car driver with a unique, high tech automobile) were ideal for the big screen, and the chances of us ever seeing a live-action Speed Racer movie. We then shared ideas about casting, including Johnny Depp as Speed (remember, this was 1990), Depp's former real-life girlfriend Winona Ryder as Trixie, Alec Baldwin as Racer X,  Fred Savage (The Wonder Years) as Spritle, Wilford Brimley as Pops and Michael Jackson's pet chimpanzee "Bubbles" as Chim-Chim.

Keep in mind, this was more than a decade before an ACTUAL Speed Racer movie would even take its first steps into production. Which is why, as ridiculous as we know it is, Steve and I still consider the Speed Racer movie OUR baby. So when the the Wachowskis gave us that hot mess of a picture back in May of 2008, we were both sorely disappointed and extremely bitter. A movie that we had wished and waited so long for, had been ruined. 

So there's nothing left for me to do now but move on and as I do, consider the other fantastic properties we need to see made. It's baffling to me how the Hollywood studios can't seem to get out of their own way and ink the deals needed to get these films into production. If they ever do, each of the following is a potential blockbuster that could earn huge dollars at the box office.

The Six Million Dollar Man

  

The premise of the 1970's series starring Lee Majors sees a test pilot/astronaut critically injured in a crash, fitted with bionic implants and turned into a government operative. I'm thinking Ryan Gosling -- who coincidentally recently starred in the movie adaptation of another Lee Majors series (The Fall Guy) -- for the role of Colonel Steve Austin.

Status Update: Several years ago, there were rumors of a Six Billion Dollar Man (Inflation's a bitch -- ain't it?!) being developed by the Weinstein Company, directed by Bryan (X-Men) Singer and starring Leonardo DiCaprio. More recently, there have been ongoing efforts to create a movie version with Mark Wahlberg attached to star. That project has been in development for almost a dozen years. Despite various delays and changes in filmmakers, Wahlberg remains committed to the project, stating that he's "still grinding every day to get it made."

The Warriors remake

The 1979 original was a low-cost surprising moneymaker for Paramount. Though the idea of New York City gangs dressed as mimes, wearing Yankee uniforms and Kiss-like makeup, and sporting silk purple vests and fedoras is light years beyond hokey, subsequent to its initial theatrical release, the film garnered huge cult status via cable and home video. In 2005, we even got a Warriors video game. As we near its 50th anniversary, a proper, more modern big-budget remake would be spectacular in the hands of a master of gritty violence like Breaking Bad writer/producer/director Vince Gilligan.

Status Update: Plans for a remake go at least as far back as 2005, when the Scott brothers (Ridley and Tony) were reportedly set to produce and direct. In 2016, the Russo brothers (The Avengers) were reportedly developing a TV adaption for Hulu but that project seems to no longer be on the radar.

The Donner Party

The Donner Party was a group of American pioneers in the 1840's who set out to California from Missouri. Through an incredible series of circumstances and misfortunes, the group was trapped by snow and forced to winter in Sierra Nevada, where members of the party succumbed to starvation, exposure, disease, and trauma before resorting to cannibalism. It's an absolutely riveting story and although the disaster movie genre that gave us classics like The Poseidon Adventure, Towering Inferno and Airport, has largely died out, here's a perfect opportunity to bring it back. I'm thinking an all-star cast featuring Kit Harrington, Emma Stone, Tom Holland and Tobey Maguire in key roles.

Status Update: In 1978, there was a TV movie titled Donner Pass that recounted the story and in 2009, Crispin Glover starred in The Donner Party, a straight-to-DVD thriller in the vein of Alive, that takes certain liberties in retelling the actual events. Then in 2011, a feature film also titled Donner Pass was released. Billed as "a twisted take on the legend of the Donner Party", it was a historically inaccurate and pedestrian slasher pic about teens stranded in one of the Donner Party's old cabins who (rather predictably) get mysteriously killed and eaten one by one. There have also been multiple documentaries and made for TV movies about the Donner Party, such as Dead of Winter: The Donner Party (2015). 

The last real attempt to tell this story onscreen seems to be an adaptation of the novel The Hunger which purportedly incorporated the story of the Donner Party with a "Walking Dead-style twist." That project was being developed by 20th Century Fox, with Luke Scott (son of Ridley) set to write and direct -- but that was nine years ago and since then, nothing.

Logan's Run 

The 1976 thriller Logan's Run is set in a future dystopian society where people live a care-free, hedonistic lifestyle... until they're ceremoniously death-rayed at the age of thirty in order to control the population. As science fiction, the film has a cheesy, 1950's-type perspective of life in the future. But at the same time, it offers sobering Orwellian perspectives on totalitarian rule, how much humans should entrust to technology, and the dangers that come with blindly accepting the status quo.

Status Update: A proposed Logan's Run remake has bounced around Hollywood for years with various above the line talent attached, including screenwriter Will Beall (Justice League) and directors Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) and Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick). Ryan Gosling was once rumored to star but he's far past 30 now. I'm thinking Timothy Chalamet, with directorial duties handled by Christopher Nolan, if you want to go big screen, but I can also picture Logan's Run as a multi-year Max or Netflix series that takes its time revealing the backstory of how exactly our culture and society went so far off the rails.

The Go-Go's 

The fact that a Runaways biopic was produced and released and we're still waiting for a Go-Go's movie is bizarre. Yes, when it comes to girl bands, the Runaways were trailblazing female rockers but the Go-Go's sold more records, were the first to have a number one album, had more hit singles, are members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, are still performing together forty-seven years after they formed, and quite simply, are more iconic.

I had the idea for a Go-Go's film no later than 2001, and even started work on an extended treatment. For casting, I suggested the following (at the time) young, up and coming actresses: Christina Ricci as Jane Weidlin, Eliza Dusku as Kathy Valentine, Leelee Sobieski as Charlotte Caffey, Tara Reid as Gina Schock, and Charlize Theron or Kate Hudson as Belinda Carlisle.

Status Update: Over the years, the band has kicked around the idea of commissioning a script, but it's never happened largely because members of the band are hesitant about relinquishing rights, giving up creative control and airing their dirty laundry. Additionally, on multiple occasions, disagreements over compensation and royalties owed have created issues within the group. None of this seems to matter anymore though, as the poor performance of The Runaways all but killed any chance of a Go-Go's film ever seeing the light of day. Still, it's fun to imagine Lily-Rose Depp as Carlisle and Jenna Ortega as co-founding member Weidlin.

Belinda Carlisle and Lily-Rose Depp

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Shout Out to: Sidney ("Woim") Kibrick

Former child actor Sidney Kibrick is one of the last living cast member of the Our Gang (aka, "The Little Rascals") comedy short film series. He is among a handful of surviving cast who appeared in the classic Hal Roach productions and is certainly the only one who had significant screen time or would otherwise be remembered. 

The freckle-faced Kibrick primarily played the character of "Woim" (perhaps a Brooklyn pronunciation of "Worm"), sidekick to bully "Butch," played by Tommy Bond. After threatening or clashing with the main Our Gang characters (usually Spanky and Alfafa) Butch would make his exit and deliver the catchphrase, "Come on Woim!" The Butch-Woim duo were recurring antagonists in the series and in total, Kibrick appeared in approximately 27 Our Gang shorts between 1933 and 1939. Kibrick later stepped away from acting and pursued a career in real estate and today he is 96 years old. Notably, just three years ago, he attended an exhibit at the Hollywood Museum honoring the 100th anniversary of the Our Gang series.

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Comeonahyeehaaaa!... It's Official: Saving Silverman Just Reached Cult Status!

Defining Films of the 70's

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The 80's Will Never Die #6 (Hellman's Mayonaisse/When Harry Met Sally)

Super Bowl commercials always lean heavily into pop culture and this year's crop was no exception. Check out this parody of the iconic deli scene from 1989's When Harry Met Sally featuring the reuniting of Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan.

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Flashdance: The Surprise 80's Hit...That Would Never Get Made Today

April of 1983 saw the release of Flashdance, a film that became a sleeper hit and finished as the third highest grossing movie of the year. Artistically, Flashdance's visual style, combined with its music video-style editing and presentation of key scenes, established a paradigm used throughout the decade in hits like Footloose, Breakin', Beverly Hills Cop, Rocky IV and Dirty Dancing. Yet despite Flashdance's unquestioned appeal, success and influence, it's safe to say that this is a movie that would never in a million years get made today. 

To begin with, the star of the film, Jennifer Beals, was a student at Yale and a complete unknown at the time. Co-star Michael Nouri had only a thin resume with mostly soap opera credits. With no big names in supporting roles or cameos, Flashdance, essentially had zero star power -- something that would be a big strike against getting any film project off the ground in modern Hollywood. Additionally, today's film industry execs would likely judge Flashdance's potential at the global box as being quite limited. This is because the film offers a story that appeals mainly to American sensibilities. For example, Flashdance is set in what is one of our nation's most distinctive metropolises -- the blue collar, steel city of Pittsburgh. Plus, if there's one thing blue collar Americans love, it's an underdog story. That beloved "I've probably got no shot and no one believes in me but I'll just work harder than everyone else and show them all" theme. Rocky III, which was a massive hit just a year earlier is a great example. That film, maybe not so coincidentally, was also set in a uniquely American Pennsylvania city,  Philadelphia. Flashdance's Alex offers that same Rocky-esque type protagonist who bucks the odds, rises from anonymity and finally realizes their dream. 

Also contributing to Flashdance's Americentric feel is its music. Flashdance's dance scenes are some of the most iconic in cinema history. The music featured in those scenes (tracks like "Maniac" and "What a Feeling") epitomized the very contemporary and rapidly growing American synth-pop genre of the early 1980's. The Flashdance soundtrack, incidentally, would spend six weeks at #1 in the U.S. and earn a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. "Maniac" and "What a Feeling" both went to #1 and both were nominated for Record of the Year.

On top of this, the scope and story of Flashdance, though appealing, are both very small. Sure there could have been a sequel exploring what happens after Alex joins the dance company, but the source material is certainly not expansive enough for today's Hollywood execs to view it as something that could birth a franchise or a streaming series -- something that's practically required to get a film greenlit these days. Studios simply do not make small budget movies like Flashdance anymore, instead opting for stories with far larger scope. "Can it be a trilogy?... Or better yet a Netflix series?... Or better yet, a franchise that will let us crank out multiple movies AND provide source material for a streaming series?" These are questions that need to be answered in the affirmative before a major studio shows interest nowadays. Indeed, if you examine the smaller budgeted movie that do manage to get made today, you'll find they are typically pet projects championed by big stars or other power players in the industry. In these cases, such films are usually only backed in order to appease said big star and/or fulfill a multi-picture contract with them.

Despite Flashdance earning $90 million at the box office (a 13x return on investment), today's studios wouldn't be interested in that kind of a take. A $10 million movie that makes $100 million doesn't interest them. They're looking to make a $100 million film, pour another $100 million into marketing, and then gross a billion worldwide. (That's right, I'm looking at you Barbie!) Flashdance was in fact a studio pic, but 40 years later, small budget films that make it to the big screen are almost always independently produced and financed. Sure, an indy that happens to catch fire at a SXSW, Toronto or other prestigious film festival can still gain a studio distrubution deal, but small projects are much more often viewed today as having no pathway to the kind of paydays studios require. Thus, they have little or no chance of gaining production deals.

Despite Flashdance's stellar office performance, Beals chose to return to college and couldn't be persuaded to star in a follow-up. A stage musical based on the film debuted in the UK in 2008 but to this day as a film property Flashdance remains a one-off. Even so, I wouldn't put it past the "geniuses" who run Hollywood today to come up with the brilliant idea to produce a sequel -- one that effectively misses its window by decades. (That's right, I'm looking at you Gladiator II!) A better course, however, would be to forget about sequels or remakes and simply appreciate those more, open-minded days long ago when artists and executives had more vision and a small project like Flashdance could gain the development and backing it needed to be successfully realized on the big screen.